Kirby Smart responds to report that Tennessee paid a player who signed with Georgia
One of the major revelations that came out of the NCAA investigation into recruiting violations committed by former Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt and his staff was that UT provided former Georgia Bulldogs tight end Darnell Washington with impermissible benefits during the recruiting process. According to reporting from the Knoxville News Sentinel's Adam Sparks, […]
One of the major revelations that came out of the NCAA investigation into recruiting violations committed by former Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt and his staff was that UT provided former Georgia Bulldogs tight end Darnell Washington with impermissible benefits during the recruiting process.
According to reporting from the Knoxville News Sentinel's Adam Sparks, former Vols assistant coach Brian Niedermeyer paid Washington $750 in cash. Tennessee also allegedly provided nearly $2,000 to Washington, a former five-star recruit, in impermissible benefits via expenses paid on unofficial visits.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was asked about the allegations on Tuesday at SEC Media Days.
And as expected, Smart didn't give a detailed response.
“No. We don’t get involved in any kind of NCAA investigation,” said Smart (via The Athletic). “I wasn’t aware of it, or knew about it, or had anything to do with it. I saw the reports, like you guys did.”
Smart was never going to admit that he knew about Washington and the cash at Tennessee. But I think every college football fan would be a little naive to think that Smart wasn't aware that Tennessee was paying for unofficial visits during Washington's recruitment (recruits talk…a lot….none of this stuff is really that secretive).
This is an instance where Smart likely said little to avoid further scrutiny of Georgia's football program. Because if Smart started throwing shade at Tennessee, it would only invite those same questions to be asked about Georgia's program. And the last thing Smart wants is the NCAA asking questions in Athens.
Why the narrative that Tennessee paid a player and still lost him to Georgia isn’t totally correct
The Tennessee Vols are still dealing with the fallout of the NCAA recruiting violations that took place under previous head coach Jeremy Pruitt
Featured image via Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
